razfl s budget ie
__ W^mBB^^^m
Delivering on its promises for the EMB-
145 regional jet is the first challenge for
newly privatised Embraer.
GRAHAM WARWICK/SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS
CUTAWAY POSTER/GIUSEPPE PICARALLEA
EMBRAER HAS YET to capitalise on the success of its EMB-120 Brasilia 30-seat regional airliner by bringing a second product to the market. Its first attempt was
the 19-seat CBA-123 Vector, a technical success
which perished in the airline recession of the
early 1990s. Its latest attempt is the EMB-145, a
50-seat regional jet.
This time the Brazilian manufacturer looks
set to succeed, if it can deliver the price and per
formance it has promised. First deliveries of the
EMB-145 are scheduled to begin in late 1996
— more than three years later than originally
planned — but the delays have allowed the
regional-jet market to mature, and airlines are
now eager for an aircraft such as the EMB-145.
The price has increased a little over those three
years, to $14.5 million, but the aircraft is still
keenly priced.
Price has been a major factor in die success of
the EMB-120, with more than 270 delivered to
airlines worldwide. Embraer expects tJie EMB-
145 to be competitive with both the similarly
priced Saab 2000 high-speed turboprop and the
more-expensive Canadair Regional Jet, and says
diat it will offer lower operating costs than
either aircraft on bodi 370km (200nm) hub-
feeder and 1,100km hub-bypass missions.
When the EMB-145 project was announced
at the June 1989 Paris air show, the first flight
was planned for late 1991 and first deliveries for
mid-1993. The definitive rear-engined configu
ration was not unveiled until January 1992,
however, and the programme was further
delayed by the prolonged process of privatising
Embraer, finally completed in December 1994.
The first flight took place on 11 August, and
certification and first deliveries are now planned
for late 1996.
Although Embraer decided in January 1992
to proceed with the programme, its financial
problems meant that it did not have the
resources to proceed alone. So it embarked on a
search for risk-sharing partners. As a result, the
estimated $300 million development cost is
being divided between Embraer (34%), risk-
sharing partners (33%) and participating sup
pliers (10%), with die balance being provided in
the form of long-term loans from Brazilian
development-funding institutions.
DESIGN EVOLUTION
Embraer's risk-sharing partners are Gamesa of
Spain, providing the wing, wing-fuselage fair
ing, main landing-gear doors and nacelles (sub
contracted to International Nacelle Systems);
Sonaca of Belgium, supplying centre- and rear-
fuselage sections, doors, engine pylons and
wing leading-edges (with Gamesa); Enaer of
Chile, providing tJie vertical and horizontal sta
bilisers and elevators; and the USA's C&D
Interiors, supplying the passenger-cabin and
baggage-compartment interiors.
Embraer's original concept was for an aircraft
with engines mounted over a straight wing.
This design offered the maximum commonali
ty with the EMB-120, and therefore the mini
mum development cost, but proved not to
provide the desired performance. The aircraft
was redesigned with engines mounted under a
swept wing, but the high ground-clearance
required created ground-handling problems.
The final design, combining a swept wing
with tail-mounted engines, still allowed used of
the EMB-120 nose and cabin cross-section, and
proved to exceed the desired performance.
After windtunnel tests at Boeing in late 1993,
Embraer reduced the take-off and landing dis
tance figures, decreasing or eliminating operat
ing restrictions at hot-and-high airports.
The swept wing lacks the winglets originally
planned for the EMB-145, and has a supercriti
cal-section aerofoil evolved from that developed
by Embraer for the CBA-123. There are two
flap sections and two spoiler panels per side, but
no leading-edge devices. Vortillons under the
outboard section of each leading edge control
airflow over the ailerons at high angle-of-attack.
Gamesa builds the wing in two sections, left
and right, which attach to an Embraer-pro-
duced wing stub mounted under the fuselage.
Each wing half has two main spars and an auxil
iary rear spar, inboard of the trailing-edge
break, to support the landing gear. All fuel is
housed in the wing, in integral tanks running
from die roots to inboard of the ailerons.
The wing stub consists of the carry-
through structure and main-gear wheel-well
and is enclosed in a glassfibre-reinforced-plas-
tic/honeycomb wing-fuselage fairing. For
ward of the wing, this fairing houses
air-conditioning packs and the pressure-refu
elling point, while the hydraulic packs are
FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 18 - 24 October 1995 59